Three questions the trustees should answer

In 2017 the State Auditor found that CSU campuses could justify the purpose of new management positions but often not the number, and that neither the Chancellor’s Office nor the campuses required a staffing analysis before hiring managers.

On March 27, 2018, the Chancellor’s Office issued Human Resources Letter 2018-04. It requires written justifications for both the purpose and the specific number of new management positions, keeps them for at least three years, and directs that they be made available to stakeholders on request. The Auditor marked the recommendation resolved.

Since then, executives and managers grew from 4,266 in fall 2018 to 4,707 in fall 2025. We found no public summary of those justifications in the CSU’s published reports.

In its 2017 response to the audit, the CSU said its existing policy already justified the purpose and number of positions, and that its management staffing and administrative costs are lower than those of similar institutions in California and nationally.

From fall 2018 to fall 2025, CSU executives and managers rose 10%, from 4,266 to 4,707. Instructional faculty fell 2%, from 27,134 to 26,517. The ratio of faculty to managers dropped from 6.4 to 5.6, the lowest in that span.

Managers are 7.6% of CSU employees and 16.5% of salary spending. The Auditor found the same direction a decade earlier: management compensation grew 24% from 2007–08 to 2015–16, faculty compensation 10%.

Meanwhile, the Legislative Analyst’s Office reports enrollment in 2025–26 is nearly back to its 2020–21 peak. Students are taught by faculty.

In the audit, campuses explained new management positions by pointing to enrollment growth, student services, advising, and federal compliance work. In its 2017 response, the CSU noted that other employee groups combined grew by twice the number of management employees.

In November 2025 the trustees adopted an executive compensation policy that removed salary caps for the chancellor, vice chancellors, and presidents and added performance incentives. In January 2026 they approved raises of 4% to 17% for four vice chancellors.

The CSU’s executive compensation summary states that deferred compensation and performance incentives are funded from non-state, non-tuition, and non-student-fee funds. It does not say which funds, or what the incentives and deferred compensation cost each year in total.

In 2017, at the Auditor’s urging, the trustees required that presidential salaries be paid only with state funds, to avoid conflicts of interest with campus foundations.

The CSU says the new policy brings executive pay in line with peer institutions, citing a consultant’s finding that most comparable systems pay more, and that the incentives will not affect tuition or student fees.